Going to school is an ordinary part of life for children and teens in the United States, but this simple act can be a struggle in many areas of the world. This month, the French Club and the French Honor Society at the Academy of the Holy Angels took action to help educate children in Lebanon. Students from these two groups encouraged their peers and the AHA faculty and staff to make monetary donations that enabled them to wear jeans to school on a designated day.
This Jeans Pass activity netted $1,161 for the Association Saint Basile, an organization that provides financial aid to children in Lebanon who are having a difficult time continuing their education as the result of social and economic issues. Volunteers from Lebanon and France founded the association in Paris, following the war in Lebanon that lasted from 1975 to 1990.
“The situation is still critical in this area of the world, and a lot of families struggle to provide an education to their children,” AHA World Language Department Chairperson and French teacher Samira Mady explained. She noted that AHA has been raising funds for the Association Saint Basile for approximately 17 years under the banner of “The French Connection: Help a Child.”
She expressed her thanks to everyone who supported this month’s effort.
“It is so nice to feel that the girls were so involved and committed,” Mady said. “Members of the French Club and the French Honor Society led the drive in the homerooms.”
While Mady emphasized that the purpose of the event is charitable, rather than competitive, she provided a sweet “thank you” by distributing organic lollipops to the students in the homerooms with the most Jeans Pass participants at each grade level.
Since 1879, thousands of women have passed through the portals of Academy of the Holy Angels high school, the oldest private girls’ school in New Jersey. Many go on to study at some of the nation’s best universities, earning high-ranking positions in medicine, government, law, education, public service, business, arts and athletics. Our goal is to provide each girl with the tools she needs to reach the fullness of her potential—spiritually, intellectually, socially and physically, by offering a first–rate education in a nurturing environment where equal importance is placed on academic excellence, character development, moral integrity and giving service to others.
- Jennifer Crusco, the Communications Assistant, The Academy of the Holy Angels
